Fade

Give nothing to hold on to.

This booklet explores a human gesture that protects, connects and supports — and may then become the only way left to answer the world.

The human gesture

To fade is to leave space, observe before intervening, preserve privacy and avoid imposing one's presence. It can be delicacy, autonomy or refuge.

Its latent closure

The gesture closes when all visibility becomes dangerous. The character no longer voices needs, leaves no trace and becomes inaccessible even to people who would want to love or protect them.

Colour of the five depths

Depth	Direction
Mask	I am discreet, undemanding and quiet; people often forget I was in the room.
Protection	I reduce my movements, hide my reactions, ask for nothing and know the places where nobody looks.
Attachment	I watch someone from a distance, keep a hidden object or have a place where I exist without being observed.
Wound	Being noticed brought punishment, intrusion, exposure or shame; someone used what they saw against me.
Inner World	Not being seen truly changes what can reach me. If my name is spoken, something begins looking for me.

Ambivalences to preserve

• privacy / disappearance;
• lucid observation / no longer participating;
• wanting to be found / fearing every discovery.

No thread should resolve these tensions in advance.

Fragment bank

note

Choosing a fragment does not fix a complete history. Its relationship with other depths will be created secretly by the player, then discovered in play.

Mask

• I always sit where no one will have to walk around me.
• I speak softly enough to be forgotten.
• I put things back as though I had never touched them.
• No one ever remembers waiting for me.

Protection

• I ask for nothing that could be refused.
• I erase my traces before anyone can give them meaning.
• I keep my face still until danger grows bored.
• I know every place where a person can be present without being seen.

Attachment

• Someone sometimes leaves an empty chair beside them.
• Under my mattress I keep an object nobody knows is missing.
• I know the habits of someone who does not know I watch over them.
• There is a place where my absence would be noticed.

Wound

• The last time someone pointed me out, everyone turned around.
• Something I entrusted to someone was told in front of me.
• They found me when I had finally believed I was safe.
• I learned not to cry because it made someone come.

Inner World

• Things that are not named cannot be locked away.
• Every time I am forgotten, I become a little harder to reach.
• There is a second room inside this one, but only when nobody is looking.
• If my name disappears from the list, they will have to let me leave.